Monthly Archives: December 2012

The article will provide a reader with information on HP Pavilion DM1-4125EA. With a total width of 292mm and a length of 215mm, it’s certainly small. A user will have no trouble fitting it into user bag and chucking it over user shoulder. With a thickness of 32mm though, the DM1 is definitely more netbook than it is ultrabook. It’s slightly slimmer than Toshiba’s NB550D netbook, but considerably fatter than the Asus Zenbook UX21, which narrows to a carrier bag-splitting 8mm.

It weighs only 1.52kg though, which is a whole load lighter than a lot of laptops — especially the gargantuan Asus NX90JQ — so user won’t feel too weighed down if user’re carrying it around with user. It adds a few grams onto other netbooks, but user’re unlikely to notice the difference.
The build quality of some netbooks is not always convincing because the chassis is an area that manufacturers cut back on in order to reduce the overall price. Thankfully though, the DM1 feels extremely sturdy. There was very little flex in the lid when we pressed on it and it didn’t bend at all when opened up

The wrist rest and keyboard tray are also free from any flex, which together with the metal banding around the edge makes this machine feel very well put together and suited to a rough life on the road.
Keyboard and trackpad
The keyboard uses isolated keys that are spread across the whole base, meaning that userr hands aren’t squashed up uncomfortably while typing. The keys are easy to press and the lack of flex from the tray means user can keep on typing for a long time without feeling the tell-tale cramps that come from using a horrible keyboard.

The DM1 comes with the Beats Audio branding so we were expecting a decent serving of sound. For such a small device, it’s quite loud, and the Beats software does help in boosting the bass. It’s an adequate noise for watching a few episodes of a TV show, or for video chatting using the webcam. But if user want to really enjoy the deep, meaningful and poetic artistry that Justin Bieber weaves into his music, get a decent sound system. And medical attention.
Performance
The DM1 is running on a dual-core AMD E-450 chip at 1.65GHz, paired up with 4GB of RAM. AMD chips aren’t as common in laptops as Intel’s chips but they do the same job, so don’t let the name put user off. When we ran the PCMark05 benchmark test, it gave a score of 2,801. That’s an okay score, considering the low price tag. By comparison, it easily beat the Toshiba NB550D, which achieved only 1,885 with its 1GB of RAM, but failed to beat the MSI U270, which managed 2,940 with 2GB of RAM.

As the 11-inch Asus Zenbook UX21 racked up a score of 9,802, the DM1 is clearly residing in netbook rather than ultrabook territory. But at £500 less, we don’t have a problem with that.
We found performance to be generally swift. The 4GB of RAM helped it to keep going when we opened up various web browser windows alongside Windows Media Player. The Radeon HD 6320 graphics gave a helping hand in playing back high-definition video — something which other netbooks often struggle to do.

Let’s have a look at the best smart phones. Android is very powerful and feature packed. It’s also extremely liberal about how a user treats it. If a user doesn’t like the software keyboard that’s pre-loaded, a user can just download another. Similarly, if a user somehow can’t find any applications then a user would like on Google’s extremely well-stocked Play store, a user can install apps from outside the shop. Google doesn’t lock Android down in the way that Apple jealously guards the keys to its operating system, iOS.
Other smart phone platforms such as Microsoft’s Windows Phone may never get that cool new app. Windows Phone is the new kid on the block so it can’t compete on quantity of apps. It does offer an elegant, easy-to-use interface though, so it might catch a Users eye if a user has not taken with either Android or iOS. If a user likes the look of it, the it is best off waiting until Windows Phone 8 arrives as the current version of the OS is heading for the buffers.

And then there’s BlackBerry, which is really the smart phone OS of yesteryear, although it still accounts for one in 10 phones sold in Britain. A user won’t find fiendishly clever apps that can read a user’s mind here or even super-slick hardware. But a user will see plastic Qwerty keyboards — something that’s increasingly endangered in these touchscreen-dominated times. BlackBerrys can also be cheap and are still popular as a basic smart phone for teens. Although they’re not the best phones for the majority of people, they fit the bill for some.
Processor
When shopping for a smart phone, a key consideration is how fast its processor is. The most powerful phones money can buy currently boast quad-core chips as opposed to the single cores of cheaper phones. But just having more cores doesn’t immediately mean that a user is getting a better phone. It depends what a user wants to do with it.

Quad-core devices excel at intensive activity such as high-end 3D gaming or heavyweight multi-tasking. Yet a powerful dual-core device can actually be quicker for some everyday mobile tasks and can offer much better battery life. Another hardware consideration is how big a touchscreen does a user want to handle? Almost all smart phones are touchscreen slabs these days (except for some BlackBerrys), but screen sizes and resolutions vary considerably. When it comes to size, once a user gets beyond 3.5 inches, it’s really a matter of personal taste. For some people, the bigger the pane the better, so they can easily ogle videos and browse full-fat websites. For others, there’s a sweet spot around the 4-inch mark that offers a balance between size and portability.

Camera
The quality of the camera is another really important consideration. It’s a rare smart phone that doesn’t have a lens on it these days (or two, if there’s also a front-facing cam for video chats). But there’s a world of difference in the quality of snaps a user can achieve. If a User is a keen photographer and have a good whack of cash to spend on a smart phone, a user should opt for one of the best camera phones.

The Huawei Ascend G330 is a fairly uninspiring phone, but is designed to appeal to those that want to spend only a little on a smartphone.

Most importantly, the device looks great too, offering a much more ‘high-end’ appearance than the majority of budget Android phones available today. It’s also a nicely compact device. At 123x63x11.2mm it’s by no means as skinny as the Iphone 5, but it’s small enough to squeeze into a skinny jean pocket. Inside this casing there’s a 4in 480×800 LCD touchscreen, but this is not very amazing on paper, given the fierce competition available on the market. However, considering the phone’s £100 price tag, this screen is plenty bright enough and responsive, thanks to the dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor under the bonnet.

There are three capacitive keys underneath the screen – Back, Home and Menu – which have proven responsive thus far. In terms of software, the Ascend G330 comes running Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) mobile operating system, but Huawei was unable to say whether it will be upgraded to Android 4.x Jelly Bean. However with ICS on board the phone looks up-to-date and has all of the usual Android features.

Huawei has skinned the phone in a light custom interface, which is much less obtrusive than HTC and Samsung’s Sense and Touchwiz UIs, respectively. This custom UI gives the phone a reworked lockscreen, fancy gestures when scrolling through apps and a number of apps added to the home screen.
Huawei has furnished the phone with some pre-loaded apps too, the most notable being BBC Iplayer. According to the Chinese firm, most Android phones of this calibre are unable to run apps such as BBC Iplayer, so it is using this as one of the main selling points of the Ascend G330. We gave the app a quick spin and it does work smoothly on the Huawei handset, even if the picture is a little bit blurry. Huawei has also inked a deal with EA to bring a bundle of free games to the Ascend G330, which include SIMs Freeplay, Dead Space and Plants vs Zombies. We had a go on the SIMs, which fired up within seconds and looked good on the 480×800 screen.

The Huawei Ascend G330 also arrives touting a 5MP rear-facing camera with LED flash, a VGA front-facing camera, HSDPA and WiFi internet connectivity, and a 1,500mAh battery.

Software
The G330 runs Android 4.0 — which is the newest-but-one version of Google’s mobile OS. Having ICS means you can download Google’s Chrome for Android browser and enjoy additional Android features that Gingerbread blowers don’t have — such as full device encryption and Face Unlock.
As with other phones in Huawei’s Ascend range, the Ice Cream Sandwich base is skinned with a wrapper of its own software. Huawei’s Android skin has typically been a fairly lightweight addition that doesn’t bog the OS down too much

Hardware
Huawei has lodged a 1GHz dual-core chip inside the G300, along with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage — which should be enough power for basic mobile tasks. It should also hopefully mean you can browse most websites without too much stuttering and lag. Like the G300, the G330 has a 4-inch screen — so it’s not a huge pane but will be large enough for many people’s mobile needs. It has a 480×800-pixel resolution. The phone has a 5-megapixel camera. There’s also a front-facing camera for video calls.

The article will provide a reader with information on Apple iPad Mini. This the smallest possible iPad that could still deliver the full iPad experience. iPad mini is 23 per cent thinner, 53 per cent lighter and fits in one hand yet it can do everything an iPad can do. It had to be big enough to do all the things you love to do on iPad. And it had to work with all the apps made for iPad.

The size is perfect size: 7.9 inches. Because at that size, it feels like an iPad in every way only it’s mini. But iPad mini isn’t just a scaled-down iPad. Apple iPad designed it to be a concentration, rather than a reduction, of the original. A refined unibody consolidates more parts into one. A single-cell battery the thinnest ever made by Apple takes up less space, but lasts just as long. The iSight camera is smaller, yet still takes 5-megapixel photos and shoots full 1080p HD video. And while the display is slimmer and lighter, it’s also incredibly vibrant. The iPad mini display stands out in all the right ways.

It has the same 1024×768 resolution as iPad 2 in a size that’s significantly smaller. Everything looks incredibly crisp and sharp and since the iPad mini display has a 35 per cent larger screen than a 7-inch tablet, everything is easier to read and interact with. The iPad mini display is also designed to take greater advantage of every pixel. So applications, magazines and documents fill the screen, from top to bottom and edge to edge. In portrait and in landscape. iPad mini is small, but when a user uses it, it doesn’t feel small. That’s because it’s designed to gives a user the maximum amount of screen in the minimum amount of space. To achieve that, a user has to rethink the relationship between the screen and the overall shape of the product. iPad has symmetrical bezels around all its edges. But for iPad mini, the width of the bezels has been reduced on two sides of the display. So although the screen is smaller, it’s even more prominent.

Rethinking the screen meant a user had to rethink the software behind it. iPad mini intelligently recognises whether a users thumb is simply resting on the display or whether a user is intentionally interacting with it. It’s the kind of detail a user will notice by not noticing it. And it’s a great example of how Apple hardware and software work together to give a user the best experience possible.

If a user would like to have the audio integrated then video on a vast scale and the technology wires-free, the new Harman Kardon BDS home theatre series could be just the ticket – packing in a multitude of features to unite and maximise the multimedia. The range features Harman’s TrueStream wireless streaming, which delivers audio via an integrated Blu-ray player to run real-time content from the web, for example YouTube, as well as a variety of portable sources. It also features Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay wireless technology so a user can access and broadcast and content from all imaginable avenues.

So basically, if a user wants to reproduce the films, music or any other media content from any of the kit that knows how to share, the BDS home theatre system brings it all to the big screen via Blu-ray. Complete with surround sound and1080p high definition picture quality if a user likes the pictures big and the audio booming. If a user doesn’t want to pay for extra spec, or a user likes the kit to fit the job, a user’ll be heartened to hear that the series comprises five models – each one built around a different 3D Blu-ray player – but all featuring the same Harman Kardon audio, supreme connectivity, sleek lines and looks. There are two 2.1 systems and three 5.1s, each packed with the TrueStream and Bluetooth syncing, 65W RMS audio power, 3S Blu-ray playback, HDMI hook-up and Dolby Digital / DTS decoding.

If there’s not enough devices broadcasting straight into the lounge room after a user have hooked up this little lot, a user can even download a remote control app and control it all from the favourite iOS or Android device!!! The inbuilt TrueStream technology on every model connects the Harman Kardon series to up to eight Bluetooth devices – even Apple iOS or Android, Windows Mobile or Blackberry kit – so a usr can create its own gadget multiplex in the one room. With input sources including TV, Blu-ray disc, DVD, CD, radio, USB and mobile internet / content, a user can streamline the technology a user wants on show, while any more unsightly, yet perfectly functional elements can be discretely hidden away – visible only via their Bluetooth identities. Harman Kardon BDS: Get home theatre without the drama .

If a user would like to have the audio integrated then video on a vast scale and the technology wires-free, the new Harman Kardon BDS home theatre series could be just the ticket – packing in a multitude of features to unite and maximise the multimedia. The range features Harman’s TrueStream wireless streaming, which delivers audio via an integrated Blu-ray player to run real-time content from the web, for example YouTube, as well as a variety of portable sources. It also features Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay wireless technology so a user can access and broadcast and content from all imaginable avenues. So basically, if a user wants to reproduce the films, music or any other media content from any of the kit that knows how to share, the BDS home theatre system brings it all to the big screen via Blu-ray. Complete with surround sound and1080p high definition picture quality if a user likes the pictures big and the audio booming. If a user doesn’t want to pay for extra spec, or a user likes the kit to fit the job, a user’ll be heartened to hear that the series comprises five models – each one built around a different 3D Blu-ray player – but all featuring the same Harman Kardon audio, supreme connectivity, sleek lines and looks. There are two 2.1 systems and three 5.1s, each packed with the TrueStream and Bluetooth syncing, 65W RMS audio power, 3S Blu-ray playback, HDMI hook-up and Dolby Digital / DTS decoding.

If there’s not enough devices broadcasting straight into the lounge room after a user have hooked up this little lot, a user can even download a remote control app and control it all from the favourite iOS or Android device!!! The inbuilt TrueStream technology on every model connects the Harman Kardon series to up to eight Bluetooth devices – even Apple iOS or Android, Windows Mobile or Blackberry kit – so a usr can create its own gadget multiplex in the one room. With input sources including TV, Blu-ray disc, DVD, CD, radio, USB and mobile internet / content, a user can streamline the technology a user wants on show, while any more unsightly, yet perfectly functional elements can be discretely hidden away – visible only via their Bluetooth identities.